Unpublished fragments - “Dialogues in Montenegro”
Today the book Dialogues in Montenegro is published and supported by the Ministry of culture of Montenegro. It all looks so easy today - the book travels through Montenegro and a bit around the world. But the process of noting down different dialogues was very long - it lasted for six years (2014-2020). As it is for any author, it is not only the time it takes for a book to be born, but also the obstacles it has to survive. During the process of selecting the dialogues that lasted for six months, I came across a fragment that we decided not to publish, but it reflects that journey of moving forward. Here it comes.
I was told, You can't publish another book like this. You can't write magical realism. You can't write. You can't move to Cetinje. You can't move anymore. Just like a boat, I was going forward and I looked at all those phrases as the waves I was leaving behind. I met other boats. They were doing the same.
Another prose insert I found that we decided not to publish happened in Cetinje. I am based again in Cetinje since 2016, but I was travelling all the time as it was part of my job, but also, part of my quest. When I saw that new dialogues are slowly coming up and that I keep noting them down, I decided to make a collection of stories from the whole territory of Montenegro, which means that all cities and all national parks are in, including the ones that are far away such as Ulcinj, Plav, Pljevlja, Herceg Novi, etc. The following unpublished dialogue illustrates it a bit.
"Are you in Cetinje?"
"I am always on the road Cetinje-Podgorica-the coast."
"When I see the smoke from your chimney, I know you're here."
That’s how my neighbors and postman knew if I was at home or not. To lit up the fire in the fireplace was a new thing to me. I thought it was a piece of cake, but it wasn’t. I learned about different types of wood, their storage, their angles in the fireplace… and the winds too. By moving back to Cetinje, to our ground house, I also had to learn that I may have uninvited guests such as - a squirrel under the roof. So I had to make a trap and then let it go. That was not easy either. Here comes an unpublished story with my friends.
“Did you catch the squirrel?”
“No, I didn’t. I put some pieces of apples in the trap. Maybe I should add some nuts?“
“Tijana, squirrel doesn’t need a buffet.“
As I am a big fan of music (and I consider music the art of all arts), I decided to play some classical music to the squirrel - maybe it will be distracted by it and leave the under-roof world. After couple of days of Igor Stravinsky’s music… there was no sound of the squirrel. I explained to my friends - Stravinsky made it run away. They understood well, Stravinsky would make them run away too. Problem solved, one obstacle on the way - solved too.
Today, Boka Bay, Montenegro.